Monsters & Angels

The Snake

The Inverness docked the next day at dusk. Older locals hawking their goods on the pier scattered when Dr. Banitierre led his team off the ship, to the train station. A few young men offered free fruit. A brave child snuck something yellow in his pocket.

"Holy moly, it's still hot." Sorcha mopped sweat off her forehead and unconsciously tucked the locket under her blouse. "Do they know him?"

"What do you mean?" Zelia asked.

"People are pointing and cowering as if they're afraid of Banitierre."

Both women watched him pull a lemon from his coat pocket, cringe, and fling it into a hedge with enough force to break branches.

"Well, he's been here before. God knows what went on." Zelia pushed her onto the train. "It's a long ride to the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains."

"How long?"

"Six hours," Zelia said.

"Feel like I'm going to faint." Sorcha swayed and cracked her knee on the wooden seat.

"Just lean on my shoulder. Let me take care of you for a change."

The next thing Sorcha knew, she was sitting bolt upright and blinking against the bare light bulbs of the train car. "Did I pass out?"

"Hours ago." Zelia held her at arm's length. "You were flailing in your sleep. Nearly slapped me."

"Sorry, I had a nightmare."

"I'll say." Zelia waved off concerned Sisters and coworkers.

"Ugh," Sorcha pulled a scarf across her face. "Dusty."

"In your dream?"

"No, that was about a stone goblin slobbering all over me."

"Deep breaths." Zelia coaxed Sorcha back against her shoulder. "We're almost at the station. Then, we have to hike."

Sorcha didn't feel any more confident when the team ended their trek in front of dilapidated huts in a barbed wire enclosure. "Don't know if I can handle this."

"That's the hospital?" Ivori clapped her hands over her eyes.

"Where do we even start?" Angela asked.

"I'm positive we can conquer this." Zelia grasped both her friends' hands and Ivori's sleeve. "We're from New Orleans."

The Sisters took charge, ordering supplies placed on the decaying porches and pointing the staff to their accommodations. Each house had two large rooms in the middle with a tiny bedroom on each corner, overloaded generators for electricity but no running water or sewers.

This was not in the magazine advertisement. Sorcha sat on the squeaky bed and rubbed her bruised knee. All I want is a bath.

Right away the nurses learned that in Nepal, a bhisti was your best friend when you needed hot water. Alfred, their bhisti, went to work filling small tubs adjacent to the bedrooms.

Sorcha slid into the water and scrubbed travel dust off her body, rinsing her hair twice before the water cooled. Wrapped in a towel, she was busy detangling her waves when she saw something huge slithering from under the tub.

Sorcha froze. The most blood-curdling scream she ever heard came from her own mouth. Like a flash, Alfred appeared, grabbed the snake and twisted off its head.

"I'm going home!" Sorcha knocked over Sister Ann on her way out the door.

"Chère, it's dead." Zelia and Angela, still half-dressed from their interrupted baths, both grabbed Sorcha's hands to keep her from running into the yard.

"Ladies, snakes are common here." Sister Ann snapped her fingers. "They crawl through holes in the floor. We'll make sure all the gaps are plugged, and then we need a good night's sleep."